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It's that time of year again. What comics site is complete without an obligatory "Best of 2017" list? No doubt it's been a crazy year in so many ways and the comic book industry is no different. But instead of concentrating on the scandals and controversies all that matters is the fruit of so many talented peoples' labor who've produced some amazing stories. These are just some of the best independent comics of 2017.

DISCLAIMER: [Editor's Note] Spartantown relies on the generosity of independent comic book publishers to provide review copies in order to post reviews. Thanks to companies like Image Comics, Valiant Entertainment, Archie Comics, Dynamite Comics, Black Mask Studios, Action Lab, and occasionally others, I've had access to some wonderful stories that otherwise I would have missed. I don't get review copies from mainstream publishers like DC Comics and Marvel so this "Best of..." list is far from comprehensive but a good sample …

Meet high school senior Nikki Finch… She’s a gifted athlete with an unusual set of medical ailments and high-aptitude test scores that have drawn the attention of an obscure and little-known NGO calling itself the Harbinger Foundation. With seemingly limitless resources at its disposal, the Harbinger Foundation has just offered Nikki a place in their newest class of recruits for a prestigious, but secretive, mission: to unlock her hidden potential via the invasive, dangerous and often deadly process known as “psiot activation”…

If they succeed, Nikki could become an extraordinary example of Toyo Harada’s vision for the future of post-human biological superiority. If they fail, she’ll likely die on the ope…

Domino has a lot to contend with as 'Motor Crush' picks up from the last issue when she comes face to face with her long-lost mother figure, Juli. There's little time for answers as the Crush facility is poised to blow.

MOTOR CRUSH #9
Writer: Brenden Fletcher, Cameron Stewart, Babs Tarr
Artist: Babs Tarr
Publisher: Image Comics
Release Date: December 27, 2017
Cover Price: $3.99
Review by Enrique Rea
Score: ★★★★☆ (4/5)
Brenden Fletcher and Cameron Stewart have put Domino Swift through the ringer during 'Motor Crush's run and no moment may have been as devasting as seeing her mother appear at the end of the last issue. The woman that helped raise her disappeared years ago and through the opening flashback, we see the caring and nurturing influence she was with her. Now, Juli is some kind of supernatural figure powered by Crush with faint recognition of Domino and their past together. Dom rightly demands answers but it's too chaotic in the facility to get them.
Th…

It's up to Betty and Veronica to form their own biker gang to protect Riverdale from the Southside Serpents. They have to recruit new members and mold them into an intimidating group. This is how the "Vixens" were put together.

BETTY AND VERONICA: VIXENS #2
Writer: Jamie L Rotante
Artist: Eva Cabrera
Publisher: Archie Comics
Release Date: December 20, 2017
Cover Price: $3.99
Review by Enrique Rea
Score: ★★★★☆ (4/5)
'Betty and Veronica: Vixens' is slowly becoming one of my favorite alt-world Archie books. It has an edge and a confidence that doesn't betray what Betty and Veronica have stood for but really reveals a side of them that's always been there. It's not a stretch to see them being bad ass bikers willing to throw down against a rival when they've been battling each other and the dunderhead boys of Riverdale all this time. This coalition of power between them and other girls from school is a force to be reckoned with. Issue two is charming,…

Proving that comics don't have to be expensive to be good, Alterna Comics continues to publish newsprint issues that put great stories in more hands. Check out what's coming this March.

GO WEST #2 of 3(W) Garrett Gunn

(A) Saint Yak, Sean Forney

(L) HdE

$1.50, 32 pgs, Action/Western, Full Color, Newsprint Interior

The Blade is Back…! Slade’s bloody journey of revenge leads him to “Lost Vegas” where he hopes to enlist the unlikely help of the deadliest woman in the Western Territories.

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DOPPELGANGER #3 of 4

(W/L) Jordan Hart

(A) Emmanuel Xerx Javier

$1.50, 32 pgs, Horror, Full Color, Newsprint Interior

Time’s running out and nothing’s going right for Dennis. For his doppelganger, it’s just business as usual — but for Dennis, the stakes couldn’t be higher. In a moment of panic, Dennis does something extreme — but does he have the courage to follow it through to the end?

Vampirella continues to blaze a new trail in Jeremy Whitley's Mad Max-inspired new adventure where people can't die, the hero has overslept a thousand years, and love is in the air.

VAMPIRELLA #9
Writer: Jeremy Whitley
Artist: Andy Belanger
Publisher: Dynamite Entertainment
Release Date: December 13, 2017
Cover Price: $3.99
Score: ★★★★★ (5/5)
In arguably one of Vampirella's wildest adventures yet, she has to restore death to the people after defeating Lucifer while God was missing rendering souls with nowhere to go. On the run with her non-girlfriend girlfriend Vicki, Vampirella searches for a way to heal an open wound and try to fix the mess she's made and survive an angry boss and his minions.
This issue offers a lot of bloody good action and surprising romance. The Fury Road Vamp and Vicki find themselves on is every bit as exciting and savage as the film that inspired it. The art team of Andy Belanger, Crees Lee, Paulo Barrios, and Lee Roughridge create a fast-pac…

One does not rise to power without making enemies along the way…and for X-O Manowar, the armored emperor of the planet Gorin, those enemies’ grievances have now come due. To end his reign, Aric of Dacia’s adversaries have paid a blood-fueled bounty to a ragtag assemblage of the cosmos’s most feared undesirables and cutthroat killers – alien beings whose viciousness is matched only by their greed. And their hunt starts…now.

Meet the most feared band of trackers the Valiant Universe has ever known right here as New York Times best-selling writer Matt Kindt (ETERNITY, Mind MGMT) and blockbuster artist Renato Guedes (DIVINITY #0, Wolverine) present a bruising, standalone interlude for the year’s most acclaimed comics epic!